Summer Fun

Lots of summer fun for you today. I had 2 mini-deadlines for work, both of which were for today, and was done by 1:30 pm - yay! So I am posting again, and will get to comments on the last post, I swear.

First up...flip flops! My friend, Laura, came over yesterday afternoon to trim M's hair (she's a lady of many talents) - he's growing it out - very Zac Efron-ish - but it needed some evening up in the back. And as soon as she walked in the door, I practically pounced on her shoes - check out these adorable flip flops she got from the Crewlet (Leesburg). Love the gray. Love the flower. Love it all. I may actually start wearing flip flops again if I can snag a pair of these. And check out her cute toenails, sporting OPI Hearts & Tarts (from the Spring 2007 SoftShades Garden Party collection - I think I have this one also, but my fave from that collection is Just Tea-sing, which I was wearing up until yesterday on my fingers). Anyway...admire her cute feet.

Ok, did you admire? She wears a size 10, folks, and if those flip flops can make her feet look cute, dainty, and petite, imagine what they can do for yours. (I think it's a 10, it could be an 11. I'm a size 9 so I am totally a member of the big-feet club, too.) Anyway, rush to the Crewlet, you all need a pair of these in your closet.

Next bit of summer fun - as a work-break yesterday, I made some gazpacho. I love gazpacho! This is my recipe - it's actually from one of my mom's Richmond cookbooks, and it always turns out great, no matter what I switch out.

Super Fantastic Gazpacho

2 tsp chopped chives
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp salt
½ cup tarragon vinegar (can substitute white wine vinegar)
3 cups tomato juice or V-8 (I use low-sodium V-8)
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 cups chopped fresh tomato
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup chopped celery
1 ½ cups chopped cucumber

Mix all ingredients. Pulse in blender/food processor for finer chop (which I always do). Refrigerate.

Serves 10.

My chef notes - I don't really measure anymore, I just use these as guidelines. Yesterday when I made it - I used 2 cans of petite diced tomatoes, drained, since the ones in the produce section aren't great yet (plus the cans were cheaper), I used a mix of grilled red onion/yellow & orange peppers/cherry tomatoes left over from Sunday night kebabs, and I was totally out of onion, so I added the rest of the red onion and lets some dried minced onion soak in the vinegar to reconstitute before I made it. Like I said, it's really foolproof. (and ummmmm, you can also dip chips into it, not that I would *ever* reduce the health benefits by treating it like salsa...)

So yesterday, I spent the kids' camp time working like crazy (and stayed up past midnight) and my Polyvore set is below. It really wasn't worth taking a picture for you, trust me. Summer fun includes hanging out and being casual - and dressing to take your puppy for a long walk (I wore sneakers for that, duh).

Wearing Today-7/14/09 by HeidiGblog featuring J Crew

And then today's outfit. Hot summer day - not that I can complain, it's still way more temperate than our summers usually are. But it was warm, so a perfect day for the dressy jersey strapless dress. Now, I love this dress, but do you wonder why J Crew refers to some of their dresses as "dressy"? The dressy jersey ruffle sleeve dress, the dressy jersey strapless dress, and so on. My search for "dressy dress" on JC turned up 6. Seriously. Are they going to carry "crappy dresses" too? Just wondering...

But anyway, paired with Danielles and some gold & rose gold jewelry - easy, breezy, cool. What more can I say? The dress is still $29.99 on sale in store and online, snatch one up (it will work with Laura's flip flops, I swear!)

Polyvore for today:

Wearing Today-7/15/09 by HeidiGblog featuring J Crew

And a HUGE Happy Birthday to my sweet little girl, E, who turns 7 today!!